Sexual intercourse when deliberate, invalidates the prescribed fast and makes one liable to make up for missed fasts and atonement, in the opinion of all the schools. The atonement is the freeing of a slave, and if that is not possible, fasting for two consecutive months; if even that is not possible, feeding sixty poor persons. The Malikis allow an option between any one of these. That is, a sane adult may choose between freeing a slave, fasting or feeding the poor. The Shafi`is, Hanbalis and Hanafis impose atonement in the abovementioned order. That is, releasing a slave is specifically obligatory, and in the event of incapacity fasting, becomes obligatory. If that, too, is not possible, giving food to the poor becomes obligatory. . As to sexual intercourse by oversight, it does not invalidate the prescribed fast in the opinion of the Hanafis and Shafi`is but does according to the Hanbalis and the Malikis.

3.Seminal emission

There is consensus that it invalidates the prescribed fast if caused deliberately. The Hanbalis say that if the thin genital discharge emitted while caressing (madhy) is discharged due to repeated sensual glances and the like, the prescribed fast will become invalid. The four schools say that seminal emission will necessitate making up for the prescribed fast without atonement.

4. Vomiting

It invalidates the fast if deliberate, and in the opinion of the Shafi`is and Malikis, also necessitates making up for the fast. The Hanafis state that deliberate vomiting does not break the prescribed fast unless the quantity vomited fills the mouth. Two views have been narrated from Imam Ahmad Hanbal. The schools concur that involuntary vomiting does not invalidate the prescribed fast.

5. Cupping

Cupping breaks the fast only in the opinion of the Hanbalis, who observe that the cupper and the patient both break the fast.

6. Injection

Injection invalidates the prescribed fast and requires the fast to be made up in the opinion of all the schools.

7. Application of Collyrium

Application of collyrium (kohl) invalidates the fast only in the opinion of the Malikis, provided it is applied during the day and its taste is felt in the throat.

9. The intention to discontinue the prescribed fast

If a person intends to discontinue his or her fast and then refrains from doing so, his or her prescribed fast is considered invalid in the opinion of the Hanbalis; not so in the opinion of the other schools.

10. Submerging Head or Body Under Water

The four schools consider it inconsequential.

11. State of Impurity Following Sexual Emission

The four schools state that the person’s fast remains valid and he or she is not liable to anything.

4. The Various Kinds of Fasts

The jurisprudents of various schools classify fasts into four categories: obligatory, supererogatory, unlawful and disapproved.

4.1. Prescribed Fast

All the schools concur that the obligatory prescribed fasts are those of the month of Ramadan, their being made up, the expiatory fasts performed as atonement, and those performed for fulfilling a vow.

We have already dealt in some detail with the fast of Ramadan, its conditions and the things that invalidate it. Here we intend to discuss its making up for and the atonement to which one who breaks it becomes liable. Other types of obligatory fasts have been discussed under the related chapters.